NEW DELHI, Dec 15: A proposal to cover all the companies having more than 10 employees under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) scheme is under consideration of the government.
“A proposal to reduce threshold limit for coverage under Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 from 20 to 10 employees is included in the proposed comprehensive amendment to the Act,” Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya informed Lok Sabha.
Replying to another question, the Minister said that at present there is no proposal to provide any minimum wage pension to all workers of unorganised sector.
In his written reply, Dattatreya said the government has proposed to merge three schemes – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) being run for workers of unorganised sector and to provide the benefit of the scheme through single smart card to workers.
“A pilot project for convergence in implementation of RSBY, AABY and IGNOAPS for unorganised workers on a single platform is initiated by the government. This pilot project will be implemented in the 20 selected districts,” he said.
The Minister said the objective of these pilots is to ensure that unorganised workers should have easy access to social security schemes including registration, support for services, claiming benefits and grievance redressal through a single point of contact set up at center near their place of residence.
“The data for these schemes will be entered in the single smart card which will be proof of eligibility for the schemes,” Dattatreya said. (PTI)
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